


Torturous Electricity

by girl_of_letters



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 18:15:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1908879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girl_of_letters/pseuds/girl_of_letters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mary had a mission from Moriarty, to keep John and Sherlock apart. She tries to carry out her job, but instead falls in love, and decides strive for a new goal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Torturous Electricity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cuppatea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuppatea/gifts).



> Mary had a mission from Moriarty, to keep John and Sherlock apart. She tries to carry out her job, but instead falls in love, and decides strive for a new goal. This is a songfic, for the song "Landfill" by Daughter
> 
> Happy birthday cuppatea!  
> unbetaed; all mistakes are my own.

     It was for the best, she knew. She should have focused more on her objective, and kept her feelings locked away. But instead she had fallen for the man who was supposed to fall for _her_. It wasn't like it had been hard, at first, to insert herself into Dr. John Watson's life, a man almost broken by the supposed death of his... best friend. It was good, that John had never interpreted Sherlock's intents as romantic, or her job would have been so much harder. And what was this job, really? A pre-emptive move, in case the great Sherlock Holmes returned, as Moriarty suspected. With his sidekick John Watson distracted by a lover or a wife, as had been the ultimate goal, it would be that much easier for Sherlock to spiral into his typical cycle of drug abuse, and for Moriarty to have his way with Sherlock.

 

     Moriarty had entrusted her with this job, and once she had been married to John for at least a year, he would allow her to make a choice. She could either leave John, and go back to her former career, as a specialized agent in Moriarty's web, or she could stay with him, and really become Mary Morstan Watson. When he told her of this, Mary knew what choice she would make. Why would she leave her career for a man whose love for her was a lie? A man who she wouldn't even love, who she would probably be ready to leave after that long? But as their relationship grew, she never forgot that she could still change her mind. John Watson, even devastated and broken by the loss of the most important person in his life, was quite a catch. And it was so easy to slip her way into the empty space in John's life where Sherlock had once resided. John had had few other close friends; Sherlock had been his whole life.

 

     But then Sherlock had returned, the night John had been going to propose to her. They were still going to get married, because she told him the next day that she accepted his offer, before he had a chance to say otherwise. If he had known Sherlock would return that night, he probably wouldn't have proposed to her at all. The timing had been extremely inopportune on Sherlock's part, and sometimes Mary wondered if he knew what her mission was, and if he let her stay out of pity or belief that John would actually be happier with her than with him.

 

     That thought was the main reason she decided to do it. John obviously had feelings for Sherlock, but he'd probably never act on them for fear that they weren't mutual. Sherlock probably wondered what John would ever want with him, when he could have someone like Mary. If only he knew the irony.

 

     Her plan was to marry John. But she would help Sherlock make preparations, and he would leave London with John as soon as she left John after a year of marriage. It could take some time for Moriarty to realize that they'd left. She would already have told him that she was staying with John, and part of that choice included reduced surveillance and no communication on his part.

 

     She had already told Sherlock her plan, and he made some noncommittal noise of agreement or surprise. Later, he expressed his immense gratitude, and she told him the truth, that it was because of her love of John. John thought he loved her, but she knew he had merely found the prospect of a companion attractive. She had seduced him with the prospect of a new life without Sherlock. And by the way he pined after Sherlock, now that he was back, but hopelessly out of reach, told her all she needed to know.

 

     The most uncertain variable was John. She didn't know how he would fare through all of this. He would have to suppress his feelings for Sherlock for a year, then experience his wife leaving him, and then leave the country forever. Or at least for an extremely long time.

 

~

 

     The day of their wedding finally came. The weather was perfect, and every last eventuality had been planned for. Mary stepped through the doors of the chapel, but everything was wrong. John wasn't at the altar, as he had been at the rehearsal. Mary took a tentative step forward, and a quiet gasp came from the audience as they realized the bride was there, but that the groom wasn't. After a swift glance around the room, Mary's fears were confirmed: Sherlock wasn't there either.

 

     She turned around and fled to the room where she had prepared for this _ceremony_. Once inside, she started ripping off the dress and her veil, and took her hair down, before putting on her street clothes. If John and Sherlock were advancing the plan, then it must mean something dire had happened. She couldn't stand around in her wedding dress, waiting for someone to come collect her.

 

     Not knowing what else to do, Mary got her phone off the table and rang Mycroft, who Sherlock had told her to contact if their plan fell through. As she heard his phone start to ring on the other end of the line, she realized that Sherlock never meant to wait a year. He'd insisted they do most of the planning immediately, saying that it was in case one of them didn't have time later, and so that they could have time to revise the plan, if needed. Even when he urged her to go ahead and tell Moriarty that she was staying with John, she just assumed he was paranoid that Moriarty would suspect.

 

     Mycroft picked up.

 

"Hello, Mary."

"What the hell is going on?! I thought the plan was to wait a year, after Moriarty made his public return! Then it would be easier to catch him! And where are you? It sounds like an airport. Oh my god, are they-"

"Mary. Have you looked at any television screens or the like recently?"

"What?"

"Moriarty has indeed made his public return, so we went along with the plan. Thank you for your help, and I do express my condolences. But Mary, you aren't required for the rest of this. Make whatever life you can, outside of Moriarty's web. Goodbye," and with that, he hung up.

 

     Mary picked up her canvas bag, originally her trousseau for the honeymoon in the Mediterranean. It would now be all that she took into yet another new identity. She walked down the hallway, wondering what Mycroft had meant about Moriarty. She glanced into a room, starting at the image of Jim Moriarty and the words "DID YOU MISS ME?" on the television screen. It seemed Moriarty had returned.

 

     Just then, Molly Hooper came around the corner.

 

"We help them get to safety, but once the plan is carried out, they always end up together," she said quietly.

"John and Sherlock? I guess you're right," Mary replied.

 

     The two went their separate ways, Molly back to St. Barts, and Mary to anywhere but London.

 

~

 

     On a tarmac runway behind a large manor house in the country, a small private jet was landing. The sky was now an overcast, dull grey. Three men were standing off to the side, on the green grass adjacent to the landing strip. As soon as they'd seen Moriarty's stunt, they went through with the plan.

 

"My only regret is Mary," John said. "She thought we were going to get married. I know she agreed to this, but she didn't realize that we wouldn't be together, for at least a time."

"She loved you, in her own way," Sherlock said, his voice low.

"Yeah, well I've bloody well chosen you, no need to get upset," John retorted. 

 

     He took a step closer to Sherlock, and intertwined their fingers. Mycroft turned away, taking a phone call. It must have been from someone important, but he couldn't really make himself care. Everything he wanted, everything he would become, was standing right next to him. He stood on his tiptoes, and gave Sherlock a quick kiss. It was their first kiss, but it didn't feel earthshattering; their whole relationship had been leading up to this point, with a gradual slope, so that this step felt natural. Sherlock put his arm around him, and they knew everything would be okay. 


End file.
